Isaiah 53:3

"He was despised and forsaken of men,

acquainted with grief,

and like one from whom men hide their face.

He was despised and we did not esteem Him."

Isaiah 53:3

despised - feel contempt or a deep repugnance for

forsaken - abandoned or deserted, to quit or leave entirely

esteem - respect and admire, value, regard, appreciate, prize, treasure

As you grow in your knowledge of and affection for Christ, so will you grow in mourning over the truth of this verse...

The Seat of Glory

Yesterday, to end his sermon, my pastor got down on his hands and knees, with head bowed.  He was proclaiming the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ, his voice thundering with praise and exaltation.  It was one of the most powerful moments I'd ever experienced while being in church.  At that moment, every believer in the room must have been holding their breath, longing for heaven, for the time coming when all the elect will be worshipping at the feet of Jesus.  

The sermon was out of James 2:1-7.  This is the passage where the Holy Spirit through James teaches us that partiality has no place in the church.  If someone comes into church well-dressed and with lots of bling, don't show favoritism to that individual.  If someone comes into church in dirty clothes, maybe a little smelly, don't look down on that person.  Don't give to them a superior attitude by telling them they cannot sit up in front, or by telling them they have to stand in the back, or by not welcoming them at all.  A church that favors the rich is wrong - this  church could be one that upholds the prosperity gospel, that God wants us to be materially wealthy.  A church that favors the poor is also in the wrong - this is the church that believes in the poverty gospel.  You must give up all your wealth to be godly.  The bible simply does not teach either.  God doesn't want us to be rich or poor.  He wants us to be godly and we are to treat people equally because the bible says that we are equal in our humanity and we are also equal in our depravity.  We all need to be robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.    

Our Heavenly Father does not play favorites, like His children sometimes play favorites with each other.  He loves all His children equally.  We all will be inheritors of the kingdom.  We all have access to the power needed to live godly,  Christ-honoring lives.  And that is what this life is all about.  Giving Jesus the place of honor.  The seat of glory is reserved only for Jesus Christ.  Splendor and glory and majesty belong to Him alone!

It doesn't matter where we sit, but it matters greatly where Jesus sits.  Be faithful till death, or the return of Christ, longing Christian.  Let's keep putting off the sin the Holy Spirit reveals to our hearts, and put on the love and righteous character of Jesus Christ.  Your faith is going to be sight, some day.

"To Him who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb,

be blessing and honor and glory and dominion

forever and ever."

Revelation 5:13

"To Him who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb,

be blessing

and honor

and glory

and dominion

forever 

 and ever."

The Great Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade...

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints’ and angels’ song. 

F. M. Lehman 

"But God, being rich in mercy, 
because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come
He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace
 in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2:4-7

We are loved, greatly!

God's Claim About the Bible

"But know this first of all, 

that no prophecy of Scripture 

is a matter of one's own interpretation, 

for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, 

but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

2 Peter 1:20, 21

The Bible is the only book that God claims to have written.  He used men, but they wrote His words.  It is the book we most go to, to gain true knowledge of Him, His character, and His plan.  Any other book or article written about Him, must be held up to the scrutiny of His Word.  To know God properly, to seek God properly, to know His plan for us, we must seek Him in His Word.  He wrote it, because He wants us to know Him, and to know Him, intimately, and as the Designer and Giver of life, He wants us to know how to live life, abundantly, with Him.

"The sum of Your word is truth."

Psalm 119:160